July 16 – Vinitaly International is preparing its third Chinese event of 2014, which will take place in Dalian July 18-20 as part of the “China Dalian International Wine & Dine Festival”, the most important wine festival in northeastern China. Vinitaly International already brought to China the excellence of Italian wine in March and May with the FuoriSalone in Chengdu and Shanghai, building step by step a more solid and productive collaboration with leading local wine importers. And thanks to their support and direct involvement, Vinitaly International was able to partake in the Dalian event. “Our interest in this country – reads a note – reflects VeronaFiere’s (the organizer of Vinitaly, ed) objective to support Italian wine production and promote export activities while attracting incoming foreign operators. This is realized with a targeted presence and the use of instruments to stimulate awareness of the immense variety of Italy’s wine production, also encouraging meetings between producers and distributors.” In China there is a steady upward trend in per capita consumption of wine (1.31 liters in 2012 against 0.3 in 2003), and in the last three years the number of consumers for imported wines almost doubled, amounting now to 38 million Chinese (data from Wine Intelligence 2014). The city of Dalian, with a population of almost 7 million, is quickly becoming the main economic hub for northern China and is among the top 10 markets for wine consumption in the country, with a turnover of approximately 300 million RMB (over €35 million) in bottles per year.
